I went on this cruise a little apprehensive after reading some of the member reviews. However, I am here to tell you that the ship is fine. It is clean and the crew is great. They have problems, of that there is no doubt, but the main things are under control. My husband, who notices stuff, said that it wouldn't take much maintenance to spruce it up. In our cabin the medicine cabinet mirrors were out of alignment, and if the screws were tightened, they would be fine. The same thing applies to the closets. The hinges are adjustable and just need tightening. Our table in the Universe dining room was second floor, #535, aft. Nice view as we pulled out of port. However, there were a few bulbs out and we actually couldn't read the menu because it was so dark. So we complained to the maitre de and explained that the light bulbs over our table needed replacing. They fixed it! But as a woman, I really don't care about the medicine cabinet or the closet, because I'm only there for a week. If it was mine - well that's a different story. Our steward was in our room frequently and there was ice in the bucket all day. There isn't a small refrigerator or mini bar so his attending to the ice bucket was appreciated. The bed was very comfortable, and I enjoyed using the complimentary bathrobe. We had cabin #6178, which is a balcony and I enjoyed sitting out there, reading my book, or before dinner and later after we retired to our room. My husband enjoys a cigar and having a balcony gives him the opportunity to smoke and not disturb anyone. The cabin is near the elevators and there wasn't any noise. One night we had a few party goers saying a late goodnight, but that was all.

FOOD - Unfortunately, it is not a five star restaurant. The menu has many selections, but you are better off going with the meal of the night instead of the alternate choices. Even then, it is hit and miss. I would say, adequate is my rating. On our first night, everything was topsy turvy, it was come as you are, and there was no assigned seating. I chose to have the chicken breast, and it was awful. Dried out and very tough, I couldn't eat it. I asked for decaf coffee, and I think they made a mistake and gave me regular because I was awake most of the night. The rest of the week we had Chateaubriand, lobster, veal parmesan, beef wellington, sirloin steak, pacific pike fish, filet mignon, red snapper, etc. All good choices, but each had a drawback. My chateau was served in two pieces, the one on top was great, the piece on the bottom, tough and inedible. Our tablemates all complained about the veal parmesan, too tough. As for the turkey I had, well Stouffers could have done better. One bite and I sent it back and had the red snapper. As for the appetizers, I had the French onion soup, no onions. Broth was tasty though. The stuffed mushrooms are good and so is the egg roll. I decided to try escargot, and guess what, it was good. A little garlicky, but good. I guess it depends on your taste, but I didn't care for the salad dressing on the Caesar salad. Our tablemate ordered a tossed salad each evening, and he said it was great. Not on the menu, but if you ask, it will be provided. As for the desserts, well the chocolate melting cake is just as good as ever! On formal night, we dressed up. No tuxes, but put on our finery. However, the dress code needs to be reinforced. Not so much formal night, as just regular dressing. For instance: we sat near a man who wore a baseball cap every night. Never took off his hat! Now that's a little too casual. We are used to having the wait staff perform, and they did on this cruise, but just a little bit different. Not everyone participated, and there were two nights where four of the waiters did a back street boys interpretation. Good talent, and enjoyable. The wait staff all spoke Spanish, and some English. Occasionally it was difficult to understand each other, but we all persisted and managed to communicate. I would say that regardless of their nationality, for all of the crew English is a second language. We didn't spend much time on the Lido Deck, but it was a busy place. I got turned off when I was up there looking for a snack. The NY Deli had very good sandwiches, but everything else is buffet style, and when you reach over to put the food on your plate, frequently it drops off and it lays around. No one cleans it up, and it is very messy. There are french fries everywhere. Not anything appetizing about that. The ice cream machine works good though.

SHOWTIME - There were two Las Vegas type shows, a comedian and a magician. If you like Las Vegas type shows, well ok. We don't. So we didn't attend after the first one. I did enjoy the show where one of the Platters entertained. That was an "oldies" night. He is getting older and had a hard time hitting the high notes, but since we grew up listening to those songs, we didn't care. We just sat back and sang along. We had the early seating, and there were a couple of shows at 8:30, but frequently it was a combined evening and the show started much later,around 10:30. After a long day, for me it was too late. We chose to go to the Onyx Bar after dinner, have a port, smoke a cigar, and listen to the jazz trio. When they were done, we went to the casino. Read more